NBA star Andre Iguodala of the Miami Heat is under fire for a tweet directed at WNBA player Aerial Powers of the Washington Mystics. In an attempt to praise Powers for her outstanding play in Tuesday’s win over the Connecticut Sun, Iguodala failed to mention Powers by name.
While Iggy’s tweet may seem harmless to some, it came off disrespectful to Powers and a legion of WNBA fans. Powers became aware of Iggy’s tweet in the wee hours the next day, and let Iguodala know about it.
Instead of apologizing for not mentioning her by name, Iguodala’s response only fueled the fire. Thus, turning what was meant to be a compliment into a full-fledged Twitter assault.
Powers and followers put on an onslaught. Powers even went as far as tweeting a 2016 TMZ article about an alleged comment by Iguodala — from his daughter’s mother in a bitter child support case — about his daughter’s interest in basketball and sexuality.
Nonetheless, the beef continued. Her Mystics teammate Natasha Cloud, who opted out of playing the 2020 WNBA season, joined in supporting Powers’ stance. So did NBA player Justin Anderson.
Meanwhile some Twitter users didn’t see Iguodala’s tweet as direspectful. A number of them pointed to a recent exchanged between former Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray and NFL player Jamal Adams.
Even the Mystics official Twitter account initially didn’t have a gripe about Iguodala’s tweet.
Thursday, Powers explained in more detail why Iguodala’s tweet was disrespectful to her, the WNBA and women in general, referencing Iguodala as “No. 28” his current jersey number with the Heat.
Was Iguodala purposely trying to disrespect Powers by not mentioning her by name? Could he have avoided the fallback by simply googling the Mystics roster? Should Powers taken offense to what Iguodala more than likely thought was a compliment?
Would LeBron James tweet “No. 23” to a WNBA player? Would John Wall or Bradley Beal? The three are some of the biggest WNBA supporters. Would it be safe to assume, they care enough about the league and players they’d took the time to mention Powers by name?
Iguodala could have avoided the additional ire by apologizing for any unintended disrespect, right?
Given the current social climate in this nation and the constant slight by a lot of male fans against the WNBA, Powers and a lot of WNBA sympathizers are on edge. Iggy’s tweet may not have been intentional, but there are countless tweets and criticism directed at the women of the WNBA.
Not mentioning Powers by name added to the constant fight the WNBA faces for respect.
Regardless, just as the NBA showed its support at the start of the WNBA season, the beef between Iguodala and Powers is a setback.
